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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

My little suburban plot continues to grow. I could say it thrives, but gardening in Texas still feels more like chipping away at a block of stone than the pastoral earth-working experience I remember from hazy childhood days in Ohio. More accurately, I would say this plot lives.

Determination wins this battle, coupled with a stream of hope. The words that come to my mind over and over this year say, "We learn more from our failures than we do from success." Two seasons a year, I have the opportunity to try new soil amendments, irrigation techniques, planting strategies, so I can someday feed my family a meal or two without having to go to the store.

I grasp for the discipline my garden requires of me. I determine to apply its lessons to other areas of my life: parenting, housecleaning, seeking God. Failure does not make me a terrible parent, a miserable housekeeper, a wayward child of God.

Every mistake simply gives me further opportunities to learn. Please, Father, let me never come to a place where I have nothing left to learn.